The Uninvited Guests

Author Sadie Jones has managed to pull off something remarkable—she has written a book set in Edwardian times that reads as if it was written in Edwardian times without feeling stilted. I thoroughly enjoyed The Uninvited Guests. It’s delightfully creepy, portrays characters who feel all too real, and takes us through pain and horror and redemption and love, all in the course of one remarkable night.

The book opens with a morning meal in a country house. Emerald and Clovis, young adults, are not overly fond of their stepfather, but they are hoping he’ll be able to save their house, which they are in danger of losing due to debt. He is off to attempt to borrow money, and his absence throughout the novel is a key part in the events that unfold. The household consists of their mother, Charlotte, their younger sister Imogen, called “Smudge,” the housekeeper Florence, who shares some sort of mysterious past with their mother, and various assorted servants and groundskeepers.

It’s Emerald’s 20th birthday, and there is to be a small party; invited are a young farmer whose star is rising and who is now richer than the family, and a brother and sister pair who were childhood friends of Clovis and Emerald. Both John (the farmer) and Ernest (the childhood friend) are potential suitors for Emerald’s hand. On the way to meet the visitors at the train station, they meet a railway guard who tells them of a terrible accident and asks them to temporarily house the victims of the train wreck until the Railway (it is always referred to with a capital letter, as befits the august place occupied by British Rail at the time) can make other arrangements for them. Almost immediately, a shifty and shifting mass of people appear in the drive, overwhelming in number and demands, and the evening really takes off.

Apparently all the victims were 3rd-class railway passengers except one, and he claims a place at the family celebration due to his class and a previous acquaintance with Charlotte, back before her first marriage. Charles is an odd character, and your suspicions will grow about his motives and the truth behind him as events continue to unfold. The mass of unexpected guests, the strength of Charles’ personality, and the characters of the family and how they respond to various suggestions all add up to a most unusual evening.

The Uninvited Guests takes an uncompromising look at both the depths and heights of human nature. It is at times heart-breaking, and at times hilarious. It manages to include all the cliches (eccentric characters, crumbling country homes, two men vying for the attention of a girl) but in a fresh, new way. Although I didn’t like all the characters, I loved this book. Highly recommended.
Elizabeth thoroughly enjoys a nice Edwardian ghost story, and sometimes wonders why since she’s not at all interested in the paranormal in real life and hates horror movies. Read more at her blog Planet Nomad.

Comments

I wished I’d loved it more, but I did enjoy The Uninvited Guests by Sadie Jones. Set in England in the early 1920s, it features a mother, her three children, and their “Step” – her second husband. They live at Sterne, an aging manor house that they are in danger of losing. The Step is off to London to try to borrow enough money to save the house.

Charlotte, the mother, nearing the age of 50, is still a beauty although not a particularly nice person; her husband Edward (who I found the most sympathetic character in the book) loves her so much he will do just about anything for her. The two eldest children, Emerald and Clovis, are also not particularly likeable but can be forgiven some of their faults for their youth. The youngest child, named Imogen but called Smudge, is largely neglected by the rest of her family and spends most of her time in her room in a remote corner of the house drawing pictures of the family animals on the wall. The house is full of animals and servants who play significant parts in the story.

The story takes place on Emerald’s 20th birthday. As the household prepares for the big event, news of a railroad crash comes to them. They are told to expect a number of passengers from the crash who’ll need a place to wait while the railroad sorts things out. Among the guests who arrive is a mysterious man from Charlotte’s past.

The Uninvited Guests starts out as one thing – a Noel-Coward-like comedy of manners – morphs into something else, and then returns to what it was originally. I found it at times very dull and others very entertaining. The author has a droll writing style that struck me a number of times. For example, she describes Clovis at breakfast: “Clovis Torrington balanced the pearl-handled butter knife on his middle finger and narrowed his eyes at his mother. His eyes were dramatic, and he very often narrowed them at people to great effect.”

Unfortunately the author also fills her work with implausible events, some of which don’t quite come off. (An attraction between two of the characters late in the book was particularly difficult to believe.) I certainly did not find the plot predictable, although the final resolution regarding the house does not come as a surprise.

I imagine an audience of readers who will love this book and an audience that just won’t get it. If you enjoy unusual literary fiction, you might fit into the first group and delight in The Uninvited Guests.